Harriet Tubman Took No Guff

Harriet Tubman comes across as a badass. She carried a rifle on her missions, leading slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Supposedly she told them at that if they ever gave moment’s thought to giving up or going back, they could consider that their last day. She wasn’t playing. This was serious stuff, and if you were in, you were in all the way.

It was probably fourth grade where I first learned about Harriet Tubman. She might have been mentioned before, she probably was, but I think that was where I first encountered her as the focus of a lesson. Everyone knows that Tubman was considered the “Moses” of her people, our people, leading hundreds of slaves to freedom. She had the support of Abolitionists, of course, and was an enemy of the people who awoke to find their “chattel” had taken off in the night. Their insurance could only do so much.

Harriet Tubman worked in slavery in Maryland from the time she was a small child, finally escaping to Pennsylvania for her freedom at about the age of 29 in 1849. Her mission to free other slaves began soon after. There’s a good short biography of Tubman on the Women in History site. She passed away in upstate New York in 1913 having lived a very full, heroic life.

On this fourth day of February, I honor Harriet Tubman for her bravery and dedication.